The Meaning of Heart Rate Zones

You've probably seen people at the gym taking their pulse or using a heart rate monitor and wondered what all the fuss is about. Those people are likely monitoring their heart rates in order to get information about the intensity of their workouts and their overall level of fitness. While you can also gauge your exercise intensity by how you feel, monitoring your heart rate can be useful for people who like to "work the numbers."

  1. Aerobic Conditioning

    • You've probably heard time and again that regular exercise can benefit your health -- keeping your blood pressure down, helping you maintain your weight and decreasing your risk of heart attack or cardiovascular disease. Moderate or vigorous exercise forces your heart to pump more oxygen to your cells and trains your heart and lungs to work more efficiently. The harder you're working out, the harder your heart will beat. As such, monitoring your heart rate is one way to determine how hard you're exercising.

    Maximum Heart Rate

    • Your "heart rate zone" includes your resting heart rate -- or the number of times your heart beats in one minute while you're sedentary -- and your maximum heart rate, or the maximum number of times your heart can beat in a minute's time. To calculate your resting heart rate, take your pulse before you get out of bed in the morning. Hold your pointer and middle finger lightly over your carotid artery and count the number of beats you feel in one minute. For a general calculation of your maximum heart rate, subtract your age from 220. These two numbers will come in handy for a couple different calculations.

    Target Heart Rate

    • When you exercise, you want your heart to beat in a "target zone" to ensure you're working out hard enough to reap maximum benefits from the workout. According to the American Heart Association, your heart should beat between 50 and 85 percent of its maximum capacity during a workout. If your heart is beating at 40 to 50 percent of your maximum, you're exercising with light intensity. At 50 to 70 percent you're exercising at moderate intensity, and at 70 to 85 percent you're exercising at vigorous intensity, advises MayoClinic.com. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, all adults need to do 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise each week.

    Recovery Heart Rate

    • You can also use your heart rate zones to monitor your level of fitness over time. Generally speaking, the faster your heart rate returns to normal after exercise, the more fit you are. To calculate your recovery rate, take your pulse immediately after stopping your exercise routine, before you cool down. Two minutes later, take your pulse again, and then subtract the second number from the first. The difference in these two number is your recovery heart rate. Write it down and continue to calculate your recovery rate in the same way after each exercise session to determine whether you're making progress in improving your cardiovascular health.